▪ I. odds, n.
(ɒdz)
Also 6–7 oddes, ods, (6 Sc. oddis, odis, 7 odd's, pl. oddses).
[app. pl. of odd a. taken subst.: cf. news. In 16th c. regularly, and in 17th and 18th c. usually, construed as a singular, ‘the odds is or was’; an isolated instance of ‘the odds were’ appears in 1614, but this construction is unusual before the 19th c.
It is somewhat difficult to comprehend how the plural of odd came to be taken to express the sense ‘difference’, and also how a word originally plural should, while still retaining the plural form, have been so constantly viewed and construed as singular. The most likely explanation is that oddes, oddis first meant ‘odd’ or ‘unequal things’ (cf. news = ‘new things or matters’), a relic of which appears to exist in the phrase ‘to make odds even’ found in the earliest quotation. But the notion of two odd or unequal things so essentially involves that of the relation between them as easily to pass into that of ‘inequality’ or ‘difference’, as it perhaps already did in the phrase in question, and as is fully developed in sense 2. After the sense ‘difference’ was once established, the plural character of the word might be lost sight of, the more easily that in this sense no singular was in use, nor, from the suggested origin, possible. We may compare the history of news, means, truce.]
1. (?) Odd or unequal things, matters, or conditions; inequalities; hence to make odds even, to equalize or level inequalities, to adjust or do away with differences; † to do away with, atone for, remit, or forgive shortcomings and transgressions; not to reckon his sins or crimes against a person.
[Cf. odd a. 8 b, quot. 1450–70, ‘We sal evin that is od’.]
| 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxxxv. 56 Implore, adore, thow indeflore, To mak our oddis evyne. 1570 Satir. Poems Reform. xvi. 70 Quhen ȝe forgaif him all his cryme, And maid his oddis euin. 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. iii. i. 41 Yet death we feare That makes these oddes all euen. a 1839 Praed Poems (1864) II. 171 Death looks down with nods and smiles, And makes the odds all even. |
2. a. The condition or fact of being unequal; inequality; disparity in number, amount, or quality; dissimilarity: = difference n. 1. Now rare. † at odds, unequal, different (obs.).
| 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. ii. (1877) 282 Augustus..admonished his doughter Iulia, to marke what great difference and oddes there was, betwene twoo women of high estate. 1548 W. Patten Exp. Scot. in Arb. Garner III. 60, I am so certain the excellency of his acts, and the baseness of my brain to be so far at odds. 1565 Harding in Jewel Def. Apol. (1611) 98 Euen among the most blessed Apostles..in likenesse of honour there was ods of power. 1565 Jewel ibid. 612 Priesthood and Princehood haue one Originall and little oddes and small difference. 1587 Harrison England ii. i. (1877) i. 36 There is an irreconciliable ods betweene them and those of the papists. 1613 M. Ridley Magn. Bodies Pref. 2 Their proportion..being at too great oddes. 1614 Raleigh Hist. World II. v. iii. §15. 522 But whatsoeuer disproportion was betweene the two Armies; farre greater were the oddes betweene the Captaines. 1631 May Lucan Contin. vii. 329 Twixt whom and Cæsar was as great an ods Almost, as twixt the Furies and the Gods. 1690 Locke Hum. Und. iv. xvi. §12 Tho' there be a manifest odds betwixt the Bigness of the Diameter. 1756 M. Calderwood in Scotsman (1884) 13 Dec. 9/6 To see the odds of clergymen in one country from another..entirely puts out bigotry. 1823 Galt Entail I. viii. 58, I ken nae odds o' her this many a year. 1838–9 Hallam Hist. Lit. III. iii. iv. §58. 167 Nature has made little odds among men of mature age as to strength or knowledge. 1854 Lowell Cambridge Thirty Yrs. Ago Pr. Wks. 1890 I. 80 The New England proverb says, ‘All deacons are good, but—there's odds in deacons’. |
b. The amount by which one number or quantity differs from another, or by which one thing exceeds or excels, or falls short of or below another; amount in excess or defect; difference.
| 1548 Udall Erasm. Par. Luke vi. 75 Whiche is by a great oddes higher. 1605 Verstegan Dec. Intell. ii. (1628) 27 More words by oddes then these may be found. 1640 W. Bridge True Souldiers Convoy 86 What shall weigh downe this odds but prayer? 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 447, I chiefly who enjoy So farr the happier Lot, enjoying thee Preëminent by so much odds. 1671 Marvell Corr. Wks. 1872–5 II. 384 It [a bill] was retained by the odds of two voices. 1799 Washington Writ. (1893) XIV. 234 The cheapest and by odds the most convenient mode. a 1845 Hood Agric. Distr. vi, At long and last the odds we split. 1866 Howells Venet. Life 50 By all odds, the loungers at Florian's were the most interesting. |
c. Difference in the way of benefit or detriment. Now colloq. in what's the odds? it is or makes no odds.
| 1642 Rogers Naaman To Rdr., So great the oddes is, in what way a truth be uttered. 1657 W. Morice Coena quasi κοινὴ Def. xv. 212 Aristippus would have found no odds in dying by the bite of a Lion. 1691 Locke Money Wks. 1727 II. 95 Whether it be any Odds to England. 1776 G. Campbell Philos. Rhet. (1801) I. i. v. 118 Their being compounded would make no odds. 1826 Sessions Papers 11 Dec. 86/1, I asked Jackson whose they were—he said, ‘What odds; they are mine.’ 1840 Thackeray Shabby-genteel Story ix, in Fraser's Mag. Oct. 410/1 Suppose I do die,..what's the odds? Caroline doesn't care for me. 1844 Dickens Mart. Chuz. xiii, It makes no odds whether a man has a thousand pounds or nothing there. 1855 Geo. Eliot in Fraser's Mag. June 699/1 ‘What's the odds, so long as one can sleep?’ is your formule de la vie. 1885 T. A. Guthrie Tinted Venus viii. 94 But there, it's no odds. 1886 Besant Childr. Gibeon i. ix, What's the odds to a working-man whether he spells right or wrong? 1890 Kipling Soldiers Three 79 ‘Wot's the odds as long as you're 'appy?’ said Ortheris. 1923 D. H. Lawrence Kangaroo xvi. 345 That sense of sardonic tolerance, endurance. ‘What's the odds, boys?’ 1967 N. Freeling Strike Out 84 You do neo-expressionism, or..neo-whatever-you-like, it makes no odds,..you'd still be up against the machine. 1973 ‘M. Underwood’ Reward for Defector xxii. 158 What's the difficulty?..Not that it makes any odds. |
3. Disagreement, dissension, variance, strife; = difference 3. Chiefly in at odds, † bring to odds (cf. difference 3 b).
| 1587 Harrison England ii. ix. (1877) i. 208 Those..who otherwise would liue at strife, and quickelie be at ods. 1588 Greene Pandosto (1843) 12 A compacted knavery..to bring the king and him to oddes. 1604 Shakes. Oth. ii. iii. 185, I cannot speake Any beginning to this peeuish odds. 1611 Bible Transl. Pref. 9 The father..findeth so great fault with them for their oddes and iarring. 1659 B. Harris Parival's Iron Age 27 In Germany, they..fell to oddes principally about the Sacrament of the last Supper. 1694 Motteux Rabelais iv. xxix. (1737) 121 Enemies; against whom he is eternally at odds. 1765 Sterne Tr. Shandy VIII. x, About which your reverences have so often been at odds with one another. 1873 Browning Red Cott. Nt.-cap 155 Old folk and young folk, still at odds, of course! |
4. a. Difference in favour of one of two contending parties; balance of advantage; superiority in numbers or resources. at († with) odds, with the balance of advantage for or against one.
| 1574 Hellowes Gueuara's Fam. Ep. Ep. Ded. (1577) 1, I was constreined with too much oddes, to endure combate with both these furious spirites. 1587 Mirr. Mag., Albanact. xxxviii, At home, with oddes, they durst not byde the stroke. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. i. ii. 169 You wil take little delight in it,..there is such oddes in the man. 1628 Wither Brit. Rememb. Pref. 235 The ods is more then ten to three. 1676 Hobbes Iliad xx. 136 Nor does it need; so much we have the ods. 1708 Swift Sacram. Test Wks. 1755 II. i. 129 There appeared at least four to one odds against them. 1834 Medwin Angler in Wales I. 259 The odds were now greatly in their favour. 1856 Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. ii. 112 England had many times fought successfully against the same odds. |
† b. Superior position, advantage. to take odds of, to take advantage of. Obs.
| 1596 Spenser F.Q. vi. ii. 18 Unarm'd all was the knight..Whereof he taking oddes, streight bids him dight Himselfe to yeeld his Love. 1628 Hobbes Thucyd. (1822) 94 When..we come to undertake any danger we have this odds by it. 1727 A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. I. p. xvi, I am not ignorant of the great Odds that the Bishop had of me, both in Education and Capacity. 1750 J. Nelson Jrnl. (1836) 23, I have the odds of you, for I have a much worse opinion of myself than you can have. |
c. Equalizing allowance given to a weaker player or side in a game of skill or an inferior competitor in a handicap. Also fig.
| 1591 Florio 2nd Fruites 73 A. What aduantage or oddes will you giue me? S. None at all: why should I giue you oddes? A. Because you play better than I. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, i. i. 62 Which to maintaine, I would allow him oddes, And meete him, were I tide to runne afoote, Euen to the frozen ridges of the Alpes. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iv. xx. 346 Warre is a game wherein very often that side loseth which layeth the oddes. 1725 Bailey Erasm. Colloq. I. 82 There's no great Honour in getting a Victory when Odds is taken. 1888 Bryce Amer. Commw. II. li. 284 Each side feels that it cannot allow any odds to the other. |
d. Phr. to ask (or † beg) no odds: to desire no advantage; to seek no favour. U.S.
| 1806 Baltimore Even. Post 5 Mar. 2/2 (Th.), No odds he begs Of any beast that walks upon four legs. 1834 Vermont Free Press 7 June (Th.), A Varmounter never uses a dog... Give him a gun, and he asks no odds. 1894 Congress. Rec. 29 May 5447/1 South Dakota asks no odds of any State of the Union. |
e. over the odds, past the limit, above a generally agreed rate.
| 1922 ‘Sapper’ Black Gang xviii. 306, I admit it seems a bit over the odds, but every word I've told you is gospel. 1930 ― Finger of Fate 103, I admit..that to be called a damned Englishman by Pedro Gonsalvez is a bit over the odds. 1972 Which? Feb. 50/1 You could even pay more than the list prices. We found some of the tools being sold for perhaps a pound or so over the odds. 1972 Listener 28 Dec. 897/2 Sir Michael Swann, the new Chairman of the BBC's Board of Governors..felt that Alf Garnett went ‘over the odds’ occasionally. 1974 ‘D. Craig’ Dead Liberty xxxi. 187 His..means of pushing his conscience underground was by paying a little over the odds. |
5. a. In Betting, Advantage conceded by one of the parties in proportion to the assumed chances in his favour; the inequality of a wager, consisting in the ratio in which the sum to be given stands to that to be received. to lay (give, etc.) odds, to offer a wager on terms favourable to the other party; to take odds, to accept a wager thus proposed.
| 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, v. v. 111, I will lay oddes, that ere this yeere expire, We beare our Ciuill Swords..As farre as France. 1602 ― Ham. v. ii. 272 Your Grace hath laide the oddes a' th' weaker side. 1670 Cotton Espernon i. iv. 156 He was so confident of his skill, as to offer odds, that..he would either kill the Duke of Espernon, or very much endanger his life. 1748 Whitehall Evening-Post No. 405 The Odds, at starting, were on Babram. 1845 Disraeli Sybil i. i, ‘I'll take the odds against Caravan’. ‘In ponies?’ ‘Done’. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xxi. IV. 593 The Jacobites.. would not give the odds, and could hardly be induced to take any moderate odds. 1875 W. S. Hayward Love agst. World 100 What odds will you lay against him? |
b. Phr. to shout the odds (see quot. 1925).
| 1925 Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words 257 To shout the odds, to talk too much: to brag: to grumble. 1958 F. Norman Bang to Rights i. 10 He was still shouting the odds about this blag which was..nothing but a dirty great romance. 1960 L. Cooper Accomplices ii. i. 76 There are always a few bloody fools who shout the odds about British justice and fair trials. 1967 Sunday Times 15 Oct. 9 For years he's shouted the odds about the Scouse way of life. 1973 ‘J. Patrick’ Glasgow Gang Observed xv. 131 He still shouts the odds fae the windae when there's a ba'le [sc. battle] oan. ‘Get right intae it, Tim,’ he says. |
6. a. ‘Chances’ or balance of probability in favour of something happening or being the case; esp. in it is odds (that, but), now usually the odds are.
| 1589 Pappe w. Hatchet (1844) 44 Tis ods but I shall thrust thee through the buckler into the brain. 1625 Bacon Ess., Delays (Arb.) 525 If a Man watch too long, it is odds he will fall asleepe. 1650 Jer. Taylor Holy Living (1727) 245 It is infinite odds but he will quench the Spirit. a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) I. 84 Those that..Can tell the Oddses of all Games. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. Ded., The Odds are against him that he loses. 1720 De Foe Capt. Singleton viii. (1840) 148 It was a million to one odds that ever he could have been relieved. 1748 Chesterfield Lett. (1792) II. clxvii. 116 It is odds but you touch some body or other's sore place. 1847 De Quincey Sp. Mil. Nun viii. 17 It was odds but she had first embarked upon this billowy life from the literal Bay of Biscay. 1871 R. H. Hutton Ess. (1877) I. 48 A game of chance where the odds are a hundred to one against you. |
b. by all odds, by far. U.S.
| 1866 W. D. Howells Venetian Life 50 By all odds, the loungers at Florian's were the most interesting. 1951 J. P. Marquand Melville Goodwin x. 163 Lee said that McClellan was the best Union general he fought against by all odds. |
7. a. Odds and ends, odd fragments or remnants, miscellaneous articles or things. Cf. end n. 5.
Perhaps, in origin, an alteration of odd ends, found in same sense much earlier (see odd a. 9); the later form having a better jingle, and more comprehensive appearance.
| c 1746 J. Collier (Tim Bobbin) View Lanc. Dial. Gloss., Odds-on-eends, odd trifling things. 17.. ― Lett. in Rhyme, To R. Townely, 'Twas Thursday last, when I, John Goosequill, Went for some odds-and-ends to Rochdale. 1779 G. Keate Sketches fr. Nat. (ed. 2) I. 51 'Tis but unstrapping my chaise trunk, laying out my odds and ends, and the affair is over. 1821 Byron Juan iii. lxxxiii, Having pick'd up several odds and ends Of free thoughts. 1844 Dickens Mart. Chuz. xi, Fragments of old patterns, and odds and ends of spoiled goods. 1852 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. II. 193 There are still some odds and ends for the carpenter to do. 1860 Smiles Self-Help iv. 82 The very odds and ends of time may be worked up into results of the greatest value. |
b. odds and sods (orig. Services' slang): see quots. 1930 and 1948; now in gen. use as a variant of odds and ends.
| 1930 Brophy & Partridge Songs & Slang 1914–1918 143 Odds and Sods, ‘details’ attached to Battalion Headquarters for miscellaneous offices: batmen, sanitary men, professional footballers and boxers on nominal duties, etc. a 1935 T. E. Lawrence Mint (1955) ii. ix. 125 Ten minutes late for dinner. Odds and sods to eat. 1941 Argus (Melbourne) Week-End Mag. 15 Nov. 1/4 Odds-and-sods, men not attached to a particular unit. 1944 Penguin New Writing XX. 44 The section was mixed up with the Police and one or two odds and sods as usual. 1948 Partridge Dict. Forces Slang 130 Odds and sods, men on miscellaneous duties. Men not classified. Members of other denominations than Roman Catholic, Church of England and Presbyterian. (Army). (2) In the Navy, the rank and file—the hoi polloi—of the lower-deck. 1950 G. Wilson Brave Company xiii. 193 Add three-inch mortar, four-point-two inch mortar, Vickers and all the odds and sods. 1955 E. Waugh Officers & Gentlemen i. vi. 64 They left me behind with the other odds and sods. 1971 B. W. Aldiss Soldier Erect 205 We've got precious little strike-power..—the Assam Regiment,..a few odds and sods of the Burma Regiment, and our friends and allies of the Nepalese army! 1975 Time Out 26 Sept. 57/4 Although Tolkien's planned preface to the poems was never realised, his son Christopher has created one mostly out of his father's odds and sods—a radio talk plus notes. 1976 A. Hill Summer's End iv. 61 Beyond these were oblong-shaped archway bricks, chimney-cowlings, roof-tiles and other odds and sods I couldn't put names to. |
8. Comb., as (sense 5) odds-giver, odds-receiver; odds-on a., on which odds are laid; also fig.; also (occas. without hyphen) as adv. and as n., the state of betting when odds are less than 1:1; an odds-on favourite.
| 1890 Daily News 10 Dec. 3/8 The proceedings were brought to a conclusion by the defeat of an odds-on fancy, Peerage. 1892 Ibid. 12 Sept. 3/4 Singularly enough the odds-giver was never in the race. 1898 Ibid. 30 May 11/3 Every even-money or odds-on favourite was bowled over. 1900 Westm. Gaz. 21 Apr. 3/3 We have played games by the hundred giving the odds of the QR, and have invariably made use of the right of castling QR without the least objection from the odds receiver. 1917 [see Aussie n. and a. 2]. 1923 Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves xiii. 153 ‘Something's gone wrong with the favourite.’ ‘Which is the favourite, sir?’ ‘Mr. Heppenstall. He's gone to odds on.’ 1926 E. Wallace More Educated Evans x. 222 Six successive odds-on chances. 1928 Daily Mail 31 July 11/4 The favourite..started at heavy odds-on. 1941 Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 50 An odds-on, an odds-on favourite. 1945 J. B. Blair in Coast to Coast 1944 136 It seemed odds on that Wang would stop a bullet. 1955 Times 11 May 5/1 Lions Love..was made odds-on for the race for two-year-old fillies. 1962 D. Francis Dead Cert i. 7 Admiral, the odds-on certainty who had lost his first race for two years. 1972 Guardian 5 Dec. 13/4 In one area near Poona there have been 22 drought years in the past 30... There, as in other places, it is a two to one odds-on probability. 1973 [see nap v.4]. 1976 H. Tracy Death in Reserve xix. 147 ‘Odds on they've gone to France.’ said Phoenix. ‘He'd have enough fuel.’ |
▪ II. odds, v. dial.
(ɒdz)
[f. prec. n.]
1. trans. To make different, alter; to balance.
| 1863 Kingsley Water Bab. vi. 263 So they odds it till it comes even, as folks say down in Berkshire. 1876 S. Warwick. Gloss., Odds, to alter, make different. ‘It'll all be odds'd in a bit.’ 1883 Hampsh. Gloss., Odds, to alter. ‘I can't odds 'un.’ 1884 Upton-on-Severn Gloss., Odds, to balance, as an account, or to alter. |
2. slang. To elude, to evade.
| 1958 F. Norman Bang to Rights ii. 52, I used to go to church every Sunday only because I couldn't odds it. 1970 G. F. Newman Sir, You Bastard iv. 124, I can't odds being mixed up in crime. |